Welcoming 2013

I believe many, parent or not, feel the same and that is, Time flies!

It seemed like not too long ago, our Renee was just entering P1 and today, she's attended her 1st day of P2!

 

There had been excitements, adjustments, new friends and even 'experiments' and at the end of the year, although I hadn't the time nor energy to coach Renee with her work, I was still alittle disappointed that she didn't get to the top 3 or 10 within just her class, but with her 90+ mark for all her subjects(though there was a 80+ for her Chinese during the 1st term), I'm contented.  Then suddenly one day, I received a Certficate of Academic Achievement from the MOE, for being in the top 25% in terms of academic performance in the level and course and good conduct in school!  This came in as a really pleasant surprise to me and I hope this would help boost her confidence('cos she's been feeling kinda sad that she didn't come in 1st 3 in the class/school).

Anyway, P1 level is known to be easy and there are going to be new and perhaps tougher challenges which I hope she'd be able to cope well and that, this new year will bring her more learning opportunities, both academically and in the music region.

The 4 Incisors

Although we've been advised by dentists(both the Consultant at NDC and the school's) to leave nature to its work but, for the sake of oral hygiene('cos Renee's afraid to brush on the 2 loose ones), we decided to call upon the school dentist to extract Renee's 4 baby incisors since 2 of her adult ones are already out!  Actually they've been out(in full size) for quite a while now but like her other 2 bottom ones, these 4 simply refused to bulge(with the 2 middle ones still going strong! that's why I decided to have them extracted) - I guess that's the result of good dental care(and the fact that she didn't take juices/outside drinks when she's younger)since she was very young, hahaha.

I phoned up her school and when her form teacher returned my call, I learnt that 2 of her close classmates had also gone to the dentist this morning, :).  Soon, the school dentist phoned me and upon some discussion,  she said she'd administered upon the loosest one on the right(of the 4) first since I preferred her to have her lunch before the extraction of the other 3.

We dropped by BT Plaza to grab our groceries and was alittle late when we arrived at the school.  Renee was sitting outside the library reading the books waiting for us and we(esp. me) were disappointed to find the food stalls had already closed for the day(forgot that it's a single session school!) and I missed the opportunity to try out the school's food...

There were some older kids at the school dental clinic when we came back after lunch and, not sure if it's due to my pressence, Renee was suddenly frightened.  She even cried in the clinic, when she didn't flinch during the earlier extraction when only anesthesia cream was applied.  She wasn't even afraid when she went for her little surgery last year...

I was still with her, holding her hand when the dentist gave her the 2 injections and apparently, either the cream wasn't applied enough or it was simply not strong enough, she cried and Rachel was frightened(I hope she won't remember this episode when she's older), she even tried to 'stop' or 'beat' the dentist 'cos she tapped(gently) her hand once, on the dentist's arm(she didn't 'hit' hard, so I think she's probably trying to stop the dentist from administering the jabs...).  In order not to cause any trauma for her in the future from witnessing the extractions, I decided to bring her out when the injections were completed, using 'get papa in' as an excuse, heeee.

When I returned to the clinic, the extractions were already done and the older girls whom were inside the clinic earlier, were there again.  This time round, they tried to comfort Renee and it's heart-warming to see such nice girls around the school.  One girl even patted Renee on her back like a little baby and told her "it's ok, Renee"(they must have got her name then & there), then she turned to me and said "the 3 teeth are extracted already".  She even made Renee a promise of ice-cream on my behalf and when I joked with her "hey, don't make promises to her on my behalf", she got alittle frightened for a moment, heeee.  Papa told me that there were some girls outside the clinic too(when I've gone into the clinic to check on the extraction) and they've greeted him politely.  Such nice girls!  Hope our Renee will grow up to be this  nice too! :)

Following the teeth extraction, Renee's exempted from practice and she's very happy, hahaha.

School and Family Fun Day

First, again, papa, mummy and baby Toh, had to wake up early this morning, to accompany Renee to her school fun day.

Fun day's began with a 'paid' entry to the Bouncing Castle:

And after some failed attempts at this booth(a younger girl was standing infront of her and she daren't quite throw properly for fear of hitting the girl...), we met 1 of her close classmates que-ing at the henna hand painting booth with her dad and we decided to join them, :) :

Then, unable to decide which booth to go to next, Renee said she's hungry and we met the same girl again at the canteen, lolz.  It is today, that we really noticed that the prices of the food sold at the school canteen are rather highly priced and this is only a primary school!  Geez...

Still unable to find a 'suitable' booth to spend her coupons, we spotted some people que-ing for sculpted balloons and we quickly followed suit and hey, this didn't require any coupon! hahaha.  Soon, a long que started behind us and we were lucky to be there before them but papa asked "why didn't you get one for mei mei", and we "oh ya hor!" hahaha.  Good thing meimei's still too young to ask for one :

Finally, not wanting to waste any more time looking around, I told Renee to give another 'aim and throw' booth a shot and this time round, we used up all the coupons we're left with and went for 5 tries, Renee managed to get 3 in!  Well done, :D

This is how the henna stain looks after the paint's being washed off:

We went for our groceries shopping thereafter and when we got back after lunch, the 3 of them quickly fell asleep whilst I assisted our helper in the dinner preparation for the evening.  Shortly, I too, couldn't withstand the fatigue and decided to go for a short 20mins nap.

An hour after we both(helper and I) began our cooking, Elsie and Li arrived and Renee wanted to go for a swim but she's made to wait til her Wayne gor gor got here, hahaha.

When Eileen and family finally got here, she noticed the pool fun fair over here and said she wanna go have a look and they all went down, bringing Rachel along, :).  I had to stay back, to 'supervise' and help-out with the cooking.

Soon, it's time for them to go home...  Just a few hours of gathering but as usual, it's been nice and cozy and although Rachel's had a good time too, she couldn't 'take it' anymore at around 8pm, having woke up early this morning...  She fell asleep on papa's lap...(if only she's this good everyday, hahaha):

1st Performance @ School

Renee came home about 2 weeks ago and told me that she's been asked to play the violin at school(she didn't know which day then).  For convenience, we wanted her to play the piece which she'd played for the audition but last minute, she decided to change and play the piece she's learnt only 1 week ago.  For a public performance, this is definitely not advisable but since it's only gonna be a casual one, we let her decide.

We all woke up very early today, to accompany Renee to school.  Even poor meimei has to wake up as early and of 'cos, she wasn't quite happy about it(unlike the 1st few days of jiejie's formal schooling days, hahaha). 

The few of them are to perform before the asembly starts and as they(the P1s and P2s) gather at the arena,  not at the hall upstairs, thus, the audience will be limited to just the P1s and P2s but still, the crowd is larger than those at Nafa's masterclasses and I think that's what made Renee alittle nervous, especially with a new violin.

I wouldn't grade the performance a very satisfactory one but nevertheless, not too bad overall and we're just happy that she's had an opportunity to play infront of a larger group of audience(even if it's not a formal one).

As we were about to leave the school, we were stopped by her form teacher : "oh, she plays very well" and luckily for this 'delay', I(we) got to experience something which was loooooong forgotten - the flag raising ceremony! hahaha.  And I wondered, must we still stand still whilst they're singing the national anthem but I thought it's best to follow suit, to set a good example to the kids, if not for anything else, :).

Waiting...

Waiting...

(whilst teacher's announcing her performance)

The 'audience' - only the P1s and P2s

(just the centre group, din bother to take panoramic view heee)

Do you miss it? lolz

The Ordeal and Thank Goodness for the June Holidays!

Finally, the mid-year school holidays are here!  As discovered during the earlier March holidays, I really feel the big difference about the school holidays now that Renee's in the formal school system.  For the past few weeks, I've been like a mad woman, trying to watch over Renee's practices - something which I hardly managed to, due to the need to attend to Rachel's needs and  the house-chores.

The highest point of stress came from Renee's preparation to the latest Nafa internal examination as it also served as the audition to the performance at their year end concert and the participation to the International Competition at Italy next year.  Renee's reluctance to practice hard/seriously almost drove me crazy!  She's still a kid, we told ourselves but as the teacher remarked "这是一个难得的机会"(this is a rare opportunity) and only a few are given the opportunity to go for the audition.  Thus, we felt the obligation to push her abit more, especially during the last 1 week since she's also been falling ill on and off for the earlier weeks which also affected her practices(but still... haiz).  But, seeing that she's finally feeling alittle tensed up(strange, since she didn't seem bothered abt her laziness to practice), we decided to 'let loose' even during the last crucial days - whatever will be, will be...

Having to stay home(so that Renee can do her practices, however willing/unwilling she was) alone with no help(hubby's out most days and nights too! even when I was hving high fever myself these nights...) had also made me felt soooo trapped, so this break will give me some allowance to relax abit - and I sure need it, badly!

Although Renee's shown reluctance to practice her violin and we were at the point to think that perhaps she still didn't see the importance of this audition, when she proved otherwise(arrrggggh, in this case, I really dunno what to say anymore...) by being nervous during the studioclass a day before the fateful day(her nervousness can be observed obviously over the video which I'd be posting up at FB soon).  She even 'followed' what her fellow classmate did(another selected one) and placed her bow on the violin whilst waiting during the piano part, aiyoh!

On the actual day, we weren't allowed into the exam room and standing outside, papa's overhead and told me(I've gone to nurse Rachel whilst waiting for her turn earlier) that Renee has forgotten some parts of the exercises piece earlier.  However, from the bit I've heard, I think she played ok, though I missed the 'forgotten part', :P.

Prior to the exam, the teacher had told us that he'd arrange with us again for the lessons during the school holidays but we did not hear from him and began to worry that perhaps Renee really didn't do well afterall.  I was tempted to phone the teacher but papa told me not to...  However, unable to resist the wait and with the need to clarify the lesson arrangement with the teacher, I phoned the teacher this evening and boy, were we all SOOOOO relieved to hear him say : "哦, 拉得很好, 所有的老师都觉得她拉得很好, 只是Kayser她有拉错".  Of course, as a parent and for the good of her future, we certainly hope that besides the group performance, she'd also be selected as a soloist at the concert and as a participant to the competition,  but with such a remark, honestly, we are very happy/contented already... *phew*

Maidless and an Empty School

Just a couple of days working for us and the replacement maid had already shown us her true colours!  Geez, request after request and she even showed me her displeasure outright when I chided her for her repeated mistakes! She didn't bother to try and remember the daily chores' routine(would even 'change'  my instructions), didn't sterilise my baby's drinking bottles(which led me to wonder if she's really wash them clean) and even left me to doing it myself in the end, etc etc etc.  The worst being that I have to be her walking alarm - twice on one same morning after being told/explained a week ago(she did that on her 2nd day with us!) that she cannot resume sleep after she's switched the alarm off - she thought she could sleep in as late as us on days that Renee need not go to school, geez!

We could already see her incompetence on her 3rd day but the agency reminded us of the contract's stipulation that we have to use her for at least a month(we'd still have to pay her 1 mth's salary if we send her back earlier), so we thought perhaps we could try giving her another chance and maybe, just maybe, she might change.  However, laziness is something that's super hard to change and especially so when one's not putting an effort and thus, we decided to send her back earlier.  Unhappy with the situation we Singaporean employers have to put up with in such a situation(am 100% sure I'm not the only one and certainly not the 1st with such situation), I called up the MOM(which said that they can't help us and made me wondered why they take our monthly levy for?  Their policy has always been foreigners pro and our Singaporeans' feedbacks are not taken into serious consideration, etc...) and in the last resort, the agency itself.  It's only upon the desperate mention of my approaching an MP, did I finally get a compromise on the agency's part, for us to pay the lazy maid half a month's salary.  MOM was supposed to get back to me on this matter(also only upon my mentioning of getting the MP's help, did I get them to try and look into my case) but if I were to wait for their response, I think I would have gone crazy, plus I'm not sure what she, the maid, would be capable of doing- such rebellious maid is dangerous to be kept around, especially when we have young ones at home, So, we decided to send her back to the agent's office on Saturday. Although I may be depleted of the energy to even relate fully to you about the maid, but if you wish to know and if we do get to meet-up, I'll try to provide the info...

So, for the past 2 days, I'm totally bashed just doing the house-chores(worser now when the unit's bigger-we've decided that if we're going maidless, we'd need to get a smaller place in the future) whilst having to look after Rachel's needs and I have my hubby's eyes over the kids.(though he went out in the evening to watch soccer, leaving me alone at home with the kids - I had to tackle the chores and Renee was alone to watch over Rachel when I go for my shower!) I can't imagine those days/times when he's not home and I'm alone - it's sooooo hard to tackle the chores when Rachel refuses to sleep in her cot most of the times!

Today, already so tired and aching all over, Renee has to make us wake up early for nothing - because, there's no school today!  She must have been day-dreaming away or looking around in school and whatever she was doing, she certainly must have not paid attention 'cos how else would she have missed the information that there's no school today?  When will this girl learn to concentrate and pay attention,   She's the same when it comes to her music theory lessons, she'd try to copy down notes when the teacher is still talking/explaining, OMgosh, how is she going to cope when she goes higher level in her learning! Haiz...  Now they're all back to bed and I'm still awake - this is me, no matter how lack of it, I'm one who has difficulty in resuming my sleep after I'm awake.

Meanwhile, we have standby a selection of Indo maids and will have to decide if to give it another try when the agency confirms their availability...

Ask N Learn

Just this morning, I was just wondering when will the AskNLearn workshop be when the school phoned me, to confirm my attendance, so they could arrange for Renee to stay back in school instead of boarding the school bus.  OMG, I had still thought it's tomorrow!  Good thing they reminded me.

As papa wasn't free to accompany us, he suggested that we give it a miss but I wanted to go, so I quikcly fed Rachel her meal, rushed through her bath, packed her up in the carrier and took a cab down, heee.  And since the maid has nothing much to do, I've also told her to prepare Renee's lunch(we'd have prepared extra rice in e morng had I rem it's today...) and told her to go along with me.  However, when we were finally let-in to the school, Renee didn't want to take her lunch, saying that they've eaten!(she also didn't finish the rice set we've packed for her in the morning) and so we just sat there waiting whilst she chit-chatted with her buddies.

This workshop gave us a better understanding to guide our child in accessing the school's e-learning portal where homework courses, quizzes, content, etc etc are available/posted online by their teacher(s).  Earlier, we've changed Renee's password but couldn't log-in after a few days and I'd thought that they'd need to re-set Renee's password.  However, when I've logged-into the parents' portal during the workshop, we suddenly could log in with Renee's!  So, there's no need for a re-set and I hope it'd still be accessible when we try it at home in the near future 'cos Renee's buddy's mom, whom had also logged-in to the parents' portal on the spot, couldn't re-log in with the newly changed password as well...(but they cld log in with the child's...)

The workshop for our group ended earlier than expected but Rachel has already fallen asleep midway through(which allowed me some concentration during the session, *phew*)...

Science Inspire Day

It is Renee's school's Science Inspire Day today and parents are invited to join their kids at school.

This event/project's presented mainly by the older students of the school and as before, we were greeted by some of the older kids at the school gate, ushering/informing us to where we were supposed to register our attendance and, where we were to gather.

First, parents and students were led by each class' form teacher to the 1st 'station' - where the P5 students presented their work to the P1s, group by group.  Due to the lack of time, Renee's group only managed to 'listen' to 3 groups, out of 4, - (1) 'Making An Object Float' and (2) UV Light and (3) Density, before we were being led to another room where a shadow puppet show was presented.

This is the station her group missed... 

The Shadow Puppet Show

and the group got bigger when another class joined in...

Parents were invited to join the kids at tea-break and though I've already taken my breakfast(after dropping her off earlier), it's still nice to be able to join them at the canteen

Renee had requested the night before, that she be allowed to buy food from the school today, citing that I could dictate what she should buy but, she didn't wait for me to do so this morning and bought 1 of her favourites - the burger, hahaha(her friends bought the same!)

The 3 buddies 

When they're done with eating, Renee just ran off with her friends and I was left alone, wondering where they've gone to, then I saw her entering here ...

This must be the piano the Principal had told us about,

where students often displayed their music talent, :)

So far, from the few occasions that I've visited the school, I've observed that the older students seem to take good care of the younger ones, even the boys!  The gentle way they spoke to the P1s painted a nice example for the younger ones to learn from and of 'cos, there had been a few incidents whereby Renee was treated roughly(like an older girl had pushed her from behind for no reason, causing her to fall onto the ground dur recess one day) but if the majority of the children has learnt/been taught to behave this nicely(perhaps we were only shown their best side on these occasions? hahahahaha), then such a caring environment's an added reason for her to stay put there...(we've also been told  by some parents whom had done comparison on schools' work, that this school seems to have good worksheets that are prepared by the respective HODs, but their workload seem to be abit on the heavy side...).  Anyway, it might be too early to tell now and with other factors involved, we still have to keep our minds open, :D.

*poor Rachel's super tired today, being woken up at such an early hour, after only a 6hr sleep...

Maths Project

Really zombie, had only managed to go to bed around 2:50am this morning and I've to wake up early, to ensure that Renee knows how to pack her work to school.

What kinda work that need such attention that kept her mummy awake til the wee hours and waking up after a mere few hours of sleep...

This is it...   Her maths project work.

She had came home last Thursday, citing that their teacher had not given her and the rest of the classmates the required coloured paper(only 2 persons of each group got the paper first).  Thinking that she'd need to hand up the project by Monday, I asked papa to drop me at BPP so that I can go get the papers for her whilst they go for her violin lesson.  I got the coloured papers... But, papa told me that our dear girl has told him that the teacher will give out the colour papers to the rest of the class on Monday, aiyoh!

Before she came home from school yesterday, I took the opportunity for a quick nap since Rachel was ready for hers after lunch and when I woke up, I saw Renee working on this project on her own!(with the papers given by her teacher).  I like her idea of using transparent thread to hold/join up the paper cards, but the thread, being thin, kept dropping and finally I told her in the evening, when we got back from our dinner, that I'd join up the cards for her so that she could go to bed...

Thereafter, I was busy re-entering my contact details to my new mobile phone(yes, my iPhone3S' damaged, by our dear Rachel's constant dropping it to the floor, hahaha and since it's old and not worthwhile to have its internally cracked screen repaired, we decided to get a not too ex Nokia for the time being before I could take over papa's current iPhone 4S should he decide to get the new iPhone5 later) that I almost forgotten about it but fortunately, I did on time and spent another 1 hr+ just trying to fix up this thingy...  Not a perfect produce but I tried my best...

looking at the pic now, I realised that the sequence of the cards seems different

luckily she's the one who fixed the order for me in case I forget(we took a pic to record it, hahaha)

I've even set alarm to ensure waking up on time myself to help her pack the work up to school but it turned out that she could pack it up herself!  In an even better way than I knew how, oh man, don't under-estimate the capabilities of today's kids! hahaha

Glitter Pens

Renee came home in a half crying and half angry state today.  Why?  Because, 1 of her favourite classmates had 'taken back her words' on lending her some of her glitter pens home  :(.

Being upset, she had raised her voice whilst trying to explain the 'scenario' to me and, whilst trying to calm myself(which is pretty hard for me lately), I said to her : "you don't have to shout at mummy, I'm not the one who upset you"

Renee : "but she promised me that she would ask her mummy yesterday and her mummy had said ok, then she didn't want to lend to me, my work cannot be completed!"

Me     : "still, you cannot shout at me, all you have to do is just to tell me that you're very worried abt not being able to complete your work properly since you have started off with the glitter pens and you don't have them to finish off.   Mummy will surely help you find a way"

Renee : "but I don't have glitter pens!"

Me      : "you forgot we've got lots of glitters left?"

Renee : "but they are different!"

Me      : "don't worry, mummy will help you with it ok?"

Renee  : ".............." (sulking away)

Me       : "this should also teach you not to start any work with anything that doesn't belong to you or something that you don't have"

Renee  : "but she said she'd lend the pens to me after asking her mummy and her mummy had said ok!"

Me       :  "even though she's said she'd lend it to you, but there are times when people might change their mind last minute, you should never depend on others"

Actually, Renee has been asking for a glitter pen(she didn't even ask for a few... :< ) after seeing her friends using them at school.  I didn't see any need of her using it/them at school and I don't want her to develop the habit of asking for everything she see that her friend(s) has, so I got her the notebook(re earlier post) and had told her then, that I'd get her not just one but a full pack of glitter pens + anything else she'd like to have(within a given budget - to be set...) if she does well for her violin.  She hasn't asked for the pen since(after she's jotted down in a list what she'd like to hv)...  But now, I feel rather sad for what she had gone through because of this(and it's not like it's of something we can't afford...) and what makes me feel even worse is that she's actually asked her friend to lend the pens to her yesterday! Had I known earlier that she will need them today.........   :*(

*In fact, I've already wanted to get her some of these pens/markers when she was younger, so she's definitely going to get them the next time we get to the mall, she sooo deserved them!  :* )

1st P1 Parent-Teacher Session

This is our 1st PT session with Renee's formal schooling educators, although I had almost opt for a telephone conversation last minute, fearing the unknown situation with Rachel around.  Good thing papa was able to join me awhile later(after my session with Renee's form teacher), whilst I was waiting for my turn with the mother-tongue teacher - even longer que as she meets the other graders' parents as well.  Finally, Rachel fell asleep on papa's arms... poor baby, she was woken up from her sleep at 8am(she slept at almost 1am and me 2am this morning!) and made to join us for breakfast at Mac(which she cldn't partake) and waited with us at jie jie's school...

I'm glad I went for the session 'cos I got to meet the teachers in person and at the same time, some of Renee's classmates and their parents, :).  Was glad that they'd came to chat with me.

Co-incidentally, Renee's jiejie buddy was under the same Chinese teacher and I took the opportunity to tell her mum what a nice and responsible girl she is and that she's taken very good care of Renee during that one week.  The mother also shared with us some of her views about the school and so far they're good(she's got 2 older girls whom has graduated from the same school) except that they've gone more into e-learning as with the other schools(per our government), we're still monitoring.  And, good thing that the girl had also reminded us that it's the Annual Sports Meet tomorrow and the lower level(P1 and P2) students are not required to atttend and thus, there's no school tomorrow, *phew*...

After we've met up with both teachers, we went for our groceries shopping and feeling tired, we decided to come home and cooked ourselves instant noodles, hahaha(cos we didn't get the maid to defroze the food as we had thought that we might eat out).

With a couple of things I have yet to tackle, I still didn't manage to get the looooong awaited nap when we got home :( , for days now... and I'm soooooo bashed!

Japanese Rice & Guests

Thinking that Renee will soon be getting sick of home-made sandwiches and those breads bought from the bakeries, I've been thinking of packing rice + 'something' for her on some days for a change.

She was happy with the suggestion, 'cos since the day we stopped her from buying the chicken rice, burger, etc etc from school, she's taking a longer time to decide on the choice of recess' snacks. 

However, fearing that the food flask might be a little too heavy to be added to her already heavy bag and the lighter one we have is not tight enough for her to handle, I asked around and heard from my Japanese SIL that she always prepare Japanese rice balls for her girl.  This is because Japanese rice still taste nice when it's cooled.  I've given it some thought and after discussing it with hubby, we decided to give it a try.

Yesterday, whilst sipping our bubble tea(mine's milk shake, heeee, seems like I MUST hv it every Sunday, hahaha), I brought this up again and thus, after our little shopping at Plaza Sin, we drove over to Bukit Timah Plaza, hoping to get a pack of the rice.

It's a good thing we had gone to this branch 'cos not only we saw this authentic Japanese rice on the rack, we were greeted with a few other choices too.  However, remembering my SIL's 'warning' that those made in USA and Vietnam won't taste nice, I avoided those from Australia and even Korea too(though she said Korea's not bad).  This pack of rice, 2kg, cost S$20.

Did a trial on the cooking of the rice this afternoon and by the evening's mealtime, I can roughly gauge on its cooking timing and quantity.  The portion cooked for her lunch was too little and it's a little too much for her dinner, but she said she must finish it 'cos it's expensive, awww...  I guess, with a couple more test runs, I should be able to get it right for the maid to prepare it in the morning - must make sure she REMEMBERS how to do it!

This afternoon, midway through practice, Papa informed that his clients are coming up to our home for a viewing as 1 of them is intending to buy another home from one of the blocks here.  When they arrived(which was super soon), Renee happily stopped her practice and even Rachel was happy to see the guests at our place, oh no, another 'please come to my place and play with me' girl? hahaha

Papa Chauffeur...

Renee had rejected strongly when we suggested that she be chauffered to school by her father but after he's driven her to school last Friday, she began to enjoy and treasure the privilege, hahaha.

Yesterday, as we knew that we might be home abit later, Papa suggested to Renee that he would send her to school probably, every Monday and Friday and he'd pick her up from school on Wednesdays.(luckily, 'cos she has time to complete part of her theory HW at least last night)  She was delighted of 'cos!  We would still keep the school bus service(to and fro) on, to standby on days when hubby needs to travel and so, for the time being, this is the best solution...

Haiku

Last night, with papa sleeping in her room(since last week), Renee came to sleep with me.  Then, as with last week, she did her homework in our room til soooo late that I told her that she is not to sleep in our room whenever papa is golfing the next day - he would have to sleep in her room, with her, I don't care if he can't sleep well, I don't want her to take her own sweet time to dilly dally over her work(actually, she just like to write, erase, write again, I can't stand it, it's just such a waste of time!).

There were some parts of her homework that she had needed a little bit of help and writing a Haiku is one of them.  Initially, at lunch, she'd asked me "mummy, what is Haiku?".  Thinking that she's heard this word from a friend, I replied "Haiku? Oh, tortoise" and she said "No...".  She then to explain it to me but I couldn't comprehend, hahaha til she showed me her homework instruction when she asked how she could do it, only then I got it.

Draw a festival they like and compose 3 Haikus before choosing one

She'd followed the instructions strictly and we chose this over the other 2.

This was done mostly by herself, I've helped her with the other 2 & the last line of this

The work children have to do these days...

A Cousin's Friend

School ends earlier on Wednesdays(1pm) and Fridays(12:30pm).  As she gets to come home earlier today and luckily, with not as much homework, she managed to finish them and her practice earlier too!  With the unexpected time allowance, good behaviour(I had earlier told her that I'd bring her down for a walk if she can finish her hw & practice early and she didn't throw tanthrums when the sky showed signs of rain) and good weather, I decided to bring them down for Renee to have a swim.  The latter was of cos elated, hahaha and kept asking why I changed my mind to letting her do so, haiz... ^ ~ ^

Since Renee's still unable to actually swim, she could only go to the playground pool and when 2 girls came over from the adult pool, I heard 1 of them calling the other 'Nadia', and instantly, I was reminded of what Renee's cousin had told me "my friend Nadia stays there too, she's Spanish and my best friend! If you know her, can you please tell me?".  With that in mind, I asked Renee to confirm with the girl if she's the one but she refused.  Although I could have done that with ease myself but as this could be her cousin's friend, I thought it would be nice if she could talk to her.  She has no problem at all in approaching strangers and had done so with many adult sales staff with her enquiries, so I see no decent reason for her to reject this request except that she's simply unwilling to do so.  I was about to let it go til she started to throw tanthrums and that made me determined for her to do it.

Finally, she relented and we got the answer - she is the one, and a friendly girl too!  This turn-out, also helped me to show Renee, that she can't always 'run away' from something that she doesn't like(esp. not by throwing tanthrums) and at times, things might just turned out to be just fine/nice.

With Renee completing the task, I allowed her extra funtime at the pool, whilst Rachel looking around earnestly, hahaha, :D.

School Bullies

Renee : "mommy, teacher said I have to take milk"
Mommy : "why? but you're always heaty.  I can get u another tin but u must drink lotsa water ok?"
Renee : "ya, I'm too short"
Mommy : "who said that?"
Renee : "they call me shorty pants at school"
Mommy : (angry) "who called u that?!"
Renee : "the taller girls and boys"
Mommy : "well, ignore these people. but if u're very angry and really need to retaliate, u call them giraffes" "but I would rather you ignore them, no point bothering with such mean people"

Few days later, last evening...

Mommy : "so Renee, do those boys and girls still tease u?"
Renee : "yes, but not as much as to another boy, he's the shortest"
Mommy : "Oh man, these people are really mean, it's not nice to tease people like that"
Renee : "ya mommy, I want to call them giraffe trees, since they call me shorty pants"
Mommy : "oh can I call u 'shorty pants' too?"
Renee : "No!"
Mommy : "why not? I find it rather cute"
Renee : "No"
Mommy : "Ok..." "anyway, don't bother about these people ok? what's wrong with being a little shorter, it's more important to be smart, that's why you have to study/work hard, ya?"
Renee : "ok mommy"

School Bus or Papa?

She's been sleeping in late(after 8:30pm) and my fear that her lack of sleep will make her an even grouchier kid came true... especially during practices(or, this is the norm for her?).

I've spoken to hubby about it earlier but he's worried that no one will send her to school should he need to travel('cos I've specifically told him that I don't wanna drive anymore) but during a recent meet up, a friend, shocked at the early hour that Renee has to wake up due to school bus even though we're staying nearer to the school now, commented that perhaps papa could send her to school and let the bus take her back(this was my initial intention).   That got us into the discussion again.

However, Renee remarked that she wanted to go to school on the school bus!  No choice, I got my sis Elsie to speak to her, she finally relented but pleaded with me to let her have at least another week to go on the bus...  Later, she told us that she would really like to go with the bus and she wouldn't mind going to bed earlier(which she hasn't been doing for the past 3 days! but mainly due to some unfinished homework).  Now it's our turn to relent, haiz...

School Bus

Everyday, we'd question Renee if she's had her seat belt fastened whenever she's on board the school bus/van and yesterday, she told us that the seat belt wasn't working, since day 1, alamak!

The other thing is, remember in my earlier post I've mentioned that the school bus driver had told Papa that it'd be around that timing, which is 6:40am+, that the bus would arrive?  This morning, when Papa brought Renee down at 6:38am(around there, cos they left home at 6:35am), the school bus had already left!  Aiyoh!

With this info, I was reminded and called up the bus operating company and told them about this, and also to talk to them about the seat belt thingy.  For the timing, they told us to stick to 6:30am as things aren't exactly firm yet since it's the 1st week and as for the seat belt, they said that they will check and ensure that, if any faulty seat belt(s), will be fixed by next week.  As a parent, I'm definitely not happy to hear this, 'cos afterall, they have the whole school holidays to check their buses properly before the school re-opens right?(mind that we parents still have to pay them for the non-service rendered during all the holidays)

Then today, after we've picked up our new maid, I brought her down at the stipulated timing to wait for Renee and when the van finally arrived, Renee alighted at the opposite direction and when I called out to her to watch out for cars 1st, she's already running across!!!  Oh My Gosh!  U bet I sure did give her a good scolding.  Papa told me later that the bus normally stops right outside our premise - he has to make a U-turn to alight the other child from next building too, hmmm...

Anyway, the back of her uniform was soaked wet, I asked her why.  At first she told me that there's no air-condition and the children were all making noise, requesting for the air-con to be switched on.  Then I asked, if the seat belt is working today, she said yes but some of them were standing, even herself! Her comment was : "overcrowded".  Hearing this, I'm really upset.  It's illegal to overload a school bus and thus, I called up the school bus operator again and he told me that it's impossible and he has the list onhand, not overloaded.  So I queried him "in this case, why is my child made to stand?  in fact, some of the other children were standing, not just my kid and this is very dangerous".  He replied that perhaps some kids might have 'choped' the seats with their bags or they took up 2 seats.  I asked Renee and she said yes.  Hey, this is simply unacceptable!   First of all, we're now talking about the 'returning from school' trip, which means that the bus driver has ample time, not forgetting, a duty, to ensure that all kids are properly seated and belted up before he begins the journey, isn't it?  2ndly, even if it's the 'going' trip, with no 'aunty' onboard the bus, the driver SHOULD come down and ensure that the kid is properly seated/belted up 1st before he moves off!  This is absurb!  I'm sure to follow up on this.

Another thing, it seems like there're more older kids onboard the bus now and I was told that, being older, these kids can walk/get to the bus faster and they would all take up the centre seats, leaving the younger ones the back seats.  On man, don't tell me what I feared from what I've heard is coming true?  Oh no...  But so far, no actual bullying yet(an older girl even helped Renee closed her toy umbrella), I hope NOT!

Missing Jie Jie

Some of you might have wondered, does baby Rachel miss her jie jie these 2 days?  U bet!

She's been calling "jie jie, jie jie, jie jie" the moment I carried her out to the hall every morning, and the minute she sees her jie jie back home, she'd be very very happy, hahaha

P1 - 2nd Day II

I had thought that things would be easier or 'free-er' for me with Renee attending the primary school, but it's actually worser!  With all the house-chores and being maidless, hving to attend to Renee's needs(both at home and to school) whilst needing to take care of an infant is really no joke!  I'm already half-dead since our maid's gone back,  now my bones are breaking...

With no spare time, I simply cooked myself a bowl of instant noodles with sliced fish and forgetting about the different school hours for certain days, I had just started cooking Renee's lunch(hv not even 'attacked my own lunch) when I heard the door bell rang, followed by "mommy, I'm Renee", hahaha.  Oh dear, this girl has came up all by herself!  Although we have a guard at the premise, I still do not think it's totally safe for a young child to be doing this alone.

So, after our home viewing this evening, I told hubby to drop us outside the guard house and I taught Renee how to operate the phone system at entrance gate.  Then, as instructed by hubby, I also went to speak to the guard to let Renee in from the small gate instead of letting her go through the carpark gate.  To my surprise, the guard said this, pointing to Renee "Oh, u're the one!  Arh Mam, I wanted to tell you to ask your girl not to rush through the gate like that, u know ar, this gate is automatic, and it's closing and she just rushed through it.  I was just about to open the gate for her.  It's very dangerous".  Yes, it's very dangerous!  I quickly took the opportunity to reprimand Renee on this.  Being small in built, the vehicle drivers might not see her and whatever it is, it is indeed a very dangerous act!  Plus, she was sooo afraid that she ran all the way up to home and was panting/sweating like mad when she got back. 

*Oh, having just checked the school hours, I suddenly remembered that I needed to check the daily 'to bring' list(for this week, before the proper schedule's ready).